I have the FSM but its too damn cold out to fumble with it without beeing sure. So have any of you guys removed the front bearing or had a bad one. The bearing is torqued to around 200ftlbs . Is there any way to hold the front axle without damaging anything or the need for a torque wrench?

Also the rear bearing looks like it will come off with a breaker bar. Its also torqued pretty high 180.

Thanks............

 

You'll need a HUGE socket. 36mm I think. I just used a large 1" drive ratchet that was about 2 ft long... Remove the cotter pin and locknut thingy from the large axle nut, then put the wheel back on the car.

drop the car back on the ground and have a helper stand on the brakes to keep the car still. Now stick the ratchet through the hole for your center cap on the wheel, and jump on that **** until the nut pops loose. I had to put a 2' breaker bar on the end of my 2 ft long ratchet.. so 4' total, and I was STILL jumping on it to break it loose. (that makes well over 1000ft-lb of torque to break it loose.)


the rear nut is about the same, but at least it's stationary. the axle is part of the bottom of the strut and it doesn't turn. the fronts do.

 

What I did (i'm sure theres many different methods) is I took the wheel off, had the car on jack stands and put a bar between the studs that hold the wheel on, make sure to put some lugs on the studs you are prying on so you don't strip them. Put the bar on the ground and take up the slack until the bar is keeping the wheel from moving. Now you can use a 1 1/2" socket with a breaker bar and a long piece of pipe and just push as hard as you can on the pipe. It shouldn't be that hard if you can get a big enough piece of pipe to slip over the breaker bar. Also 1 1/2" is a little loose, but it works. If you can get metric or one size smaller than a 1 1/2" it should be the right size. Hope this helps!

 

Better watch out doing it that way. that's a good way to break wheel studs and make your day even worse.

 

my way...
took out impact wrench..added oil.
turned on compressor.
place socket on impact wrench
pull trigger
it was tight..no doubt about that.